Sports Medicine Fellowship

The University of Miami UHealth Sports medicine division is an awesome place to become proficient in sports medicine. We offer exceptional facilities, a close, diversified faculty, plenty of hands-on clinical experience, and one of the best known collegiate athletic departments in the nation. It’s all about the U. Our program and its resources will provide you the knowledge and skills to succeed in and be able to contribute to the field of sports medicine, whether you go on to become a team physician, private practice or a sports medicine specialist in academic medicine.

Overview

The Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship is accredited by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education. It is one year in length, with orientation during the third and fourth weeks of July and official clinic and training room coverage beginning August 1.

Our faculty and fellows within the Division of Sports Medicine of the Department of Family Medicine are responsible for addressing the health care and fitness needs of a wide range of male and female athletes. Our sports medicine fellow assists with the care of more than 450 Division I NCAA athletes in 17 varsity teams at The University of Miami. This includes both event coverage and training room coverage. Our fellow also helps with the care of the athletes with the Miami Marlins, our local Major League Baseball team. The sports medicine fellow is responsible for the care of athletes in several public and private schools in the area through both event and training room coverage. They are assigned a school and are the primary medical provider for those schools. The Division of Sports Medicine typically handles more than 5,000 musculoskeletal and general medical outpatient cases each year, and our fellow learns from these cases by being active participants in the sports medicine clinics with our attending faculty.

Mission

The mission of the Jackson Health/Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship training program is to provide fellows with a comprehensive, structured, and stimulating clinical education in outpatient settings that will enable them to become competent, compassionate, proficient, and professional primary care sports medicine physicians.

Goals

The University of Miami Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship is designed for fellows to:
• Refine his/her ability to critically evaluate an athletic injury through history, physical exam, differential diagnosis, and appropriate ordering and interpretation of x-rays, MRI, bone scan, etc.
• Refine his/her ability to develop treatment options with the understanding of surgical risks and benefits, physical therapy modalities and exercises.
• Appropriately apply these abilities in different environments including the office setting, the training room and at event coverage.
• Be exposed to the multidisciplinary aspect of caring for athletes with interaction and exposure to athletic trainers, physical therapists, primary care sports medicine specialists, orthopedic specialists, sport psychologists, sports nutritionists and other specialists within our system.
• Become familiar with sports medicine literature and develop the ability to critically review it.
• Experience the process of producing a publishable quality research project.
• Participate in mass event coverage and learn what is involved in coordinating care for such an event.
• Learn the basics of musculoskeletal ultrasound and how to appropriately use it in a clinical setting.

Clinical Care

The fellow is an integral part of outpatient care at Uhealth Sports Medicine. The fellow is taught how to perform a comprehensive examination of sports-related injuries and medical problems. They work with our attending physicians in their clinics, but also have their own sports medicine clinic where they see patients assigned to them. Patients who are referred to the clinic’s physical therapy team are seen within one to two weeks, making it easy for the fellow to observe the therapists and gain an understanding of the rehabilitation process.

Team Coverage

The sports medicine fellow will gain Division I athletic experience by helping provide medical services for the University of Miami varsity men’s and women’s athletic teams. This includes pre-participation physicals and daily evaluation of over 450 athletes in a variety of sports. Clinics, staffed by attending physicians and/or the fellow, are also held in the training room two to four times per week, depending on the season. The fellows also have the opportunity to work with The Miami Marlins, US Sailing, and numerous opportunities that occur during the year.
Fellows are assigned a high school for which they are the primary caregivers for the athletic program through staffing of the training room and event coverage.

Education

The conference schedule for the sports medicine fellowship includes a monthly journal club, core content review and weekly sports medicine conference. The fellow is expected present at these conferences and to research these questions and present his/her findings with the attending faculty, their co-fellow and any other learner that is rotating with the sports medicine team.

Research

The sports medicine fellow is expected to participate in several academic activities during the year. All fellows will co-author at least one review paper (in an evidence-based fashion). They will have the opportunity to participate in ongoing research at the Sports Medicine Institute. Fellows are expected to present at a national meeting during their time at The University of Miami Sports Medicine Institute.